BSC Aspiration

The Berkeley Shambhala Center was one of the earliest centers established in Shambhala International, a community founded by the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa and currently led by his son and spiritual heir, Sakyong Mipham. Based on the contemplative teachings of Buddhism, this global community is dedicated to promoting Shambhala vision, which expresses the individual and collective spiritual journey in terms relevant for our time and which is available to practitioners of any tradition. All of the pursuits in which we engage and the programs we offer are grounded in practices of meditation and community.

We seek to recognize and respect the inherent worthiness, dignity and value of every individual, and to support the expression of this fundamental goodness in our daily lives. We acknowledge the importance of accepting ourselves and others as we are, and seek to do this as we nurture the courage and confidence necessary to proceed along the often challenging path of personal discovery.

And while we recognize that the path is a deeply personal experience for each individual, we walk the path together, supporting each other as we seek to create a richly diverse and welcoming community characterized by kindness, compassion, bravery and generosity. In the Shambhala tradition, a community based on these principles is considered an enlightened society.

Our efforts to create such a community are not simply for the sake of those who participate in it, but also to fulfill what we believe is our individual and collective responsibility to act as a catalyst for the societal change that is both eminently possible and profoundly needed in our world today.